More and more Dutch municipalities are considering investing in facial scanners. This device must scan residents applying for a new passport. Based on the scan, the software checks whether the person standing in front of the scanner is the same person as in the passport photo of the old ID.
Municipalities are combating identity fraud
We now mainly see facial scanners at airports to check incoming passengers. We may also see them at the counter of the civil affairs department soon. The municipalities of Almere and Utrechtse Heuvelrug, among others, are considering purchasing a facial scanner and using it for residents who want to renew their passports or driver’s licenses. They are increasingly confronted with identity fraud. They want to put a stop to this with a facial scanner.
A facial scanner works as follows. First, an official checks the authenticity of the old passport or driver’s license. Once authenticity has been established, the face of the person who wants to renew his ID or apply for a driver’s license is scanned. The software checks whether the person standing at the counter is actually the person he or she is pretending to be. Finally, the application or grant procedure will continue.
Municipalities may purchase facial scanners on their own responsibility
The question is whether the plans are not in conflict with European privacy legislation. A facial scan falls under the category of special personal data. These are data that, if they end up in the wrong hands, will affect your privacy in the most far-reaching sense of the word. They can be used to identify you and others. It is not without reason that very strict rules apply to special personal data, and organizations must handle this with the utmost care.
A spokesperson for the municipality of Utrechtse Heuvelrug confirms that important choices still have to be made, for example about the retention period of facial scans. He cannot say when the municipality will introduce the system. He did say that testing will first be done before the municipality decides to purchase a facial scanner.
The Dutch Association for Civil Affairs (NVVB) told NOS that more municipalities are considering purchasing a facial scanner. However, according to the interest group, there is not yet a legal basis for using these systems to renew passports and driving licenses.
A Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations spokesperson says municipalities may purchase a facial scanner “on their own initiative and under their own responsibility”. He points out that municipalities must carry out a risk analysis before working with the system.
State Secretary is taking measures to prevent the issuance of false passports
Identity fraud with passports has been a thorn in the government’s side for some time. In the summer of 2022, State Secretary for Digitalization Alexandra van Huffelen acknowledged that the systems municipalities use to issue passports contain ‘structural errors’. By bribing corrupt officials, criminals could obtain a false passport. This allowed them to remain under the radar and flee abroad unnoticed to continue their criminal activities there.
The State Secretary introduced various measures to combat the issuance of false passports. For example, the ‘four eyes principle’ was introduced, counter staff are obliged to submit a Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG), supervision has become stricter and less non-binding, municipalities with missing passports have a reporting obligation, and municipalities must keep accurate records of the number of passports they have at home and how many they spend. The latter is also called ‘vault hygiene’.
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